University of Tennessee Athletics
Hanson Named Lady Vol Athlete of the Week
December 05, 2000 | Women's Swimming & Diving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Dec. 4, 200) -- Senior swimmer Pam Hanson has been named the Lady Vol Athlete of the Week by the Lady Vol Media Relations staff after setting a pair of school records at the Princeton Invitational.
Hanson had an outstanding meet at Princeton, where she set new Tennessee standards in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke events. Her mark of 54.77 in the 100y back broke Emily Plummer's record of 55.09 set at the 1998 Southeastern Conference Championships. Her new standard of 1:58.18 eclipsed 2000 Olympian Fabiola Molina's record of 1:58.35, also from the 1998 SEC Championships. With her record-breaking times, Hanson won both of the backstroke events at Princeton and earned the NCAA 'A' cut time to automatically qualify her for the NCAA Championships in March.
Hanson's freshly minted spot in the Lady Vol record book is also noteworthy because she now holds two of only six Tennessee swimming and diving records that were set in the month of December. The other 19 records were all set in at NCAA Championships, SEC Championships or at last-chance qualifying events.
In addition to her action in the backstroke events, Hanson also had an strong overall competition for the Lady Vols. She won the 200 individual medley and earned the NCAA 'B' cut time in that event with a mark of 2:01.56. Hanson captured the 100y butterfly with a time of 54.87 to earn the NCAA 'B' standard in yet another event. So far this season, Hanson, a native of La Crosse, Wis., has two automatic qualifying times and a pair of provisional marks. Additionally, she was part of the 400y medley relay team that won its event and also finished third with the 400y free relay team and fourth with the 800y free relay team.
Other nominees for Athlete of the Week were: Kristen "Ace" Clement (basketball), Jaime Sanger (diving) and Ariana Wilson (volleyball).
